Travels with Grandmom

Today (Monday) was our first full day in Durango. We had breakfast at our hotel this morning and had a table next to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Animas River. There was a trail running along the river and we saw many joggers, walkers, and cyclists pass us. We have even see one man in waders fly-fishing about 50 yards from our room. Seeing all the bicycles, I said that it was a shame that Greg didn't bring his bike. Durango has bike routes marked all over the city. Greg liked the idea and wondered if there might be a place he could rent one. We stopped at the front desk to ask and were soon on our way to Pedal the Peaks bike shop where he rented a trail bike for $25 a day. We brought it back to the hotel and he took off. Two hours later, Mom and I were sitting on our terrace enjoying the view and drinking our coffee when he rode up the trail and over to us. He had been all over Durango and was having a wonderful time. Getting the bike was the greatest idea we had had on this trip.


One thing we all really wanted to do on our vacation was to recreate our picnic at Lake Vallecito that we had in July, 2000. We searched for a KFC (gotta keep that re-creation accurate), got us a bucket of chicken, and headed for the lake. There were rumbles of thunder and a few showers as we drove up into the mountains surrounding the lake but all was clear and beautiful again by the time we reached the lake.

Greg was driving and I had forgotten that you have to drive across the dam at the south end of the reservoir to get to the picnic areas. This is not a nice two-lane road with guardrails -- it is a narrow lane with a sheer drop off on each side. As we sped merrily along, I watched both sides wondering whether I would prefer to fall off the right side and fall 50 feet to the bottom of the spillway or off the left side where the cold, deep water would break our fall. Fortunately, it is not a long drive and we arrived at the other side intact.

We then started our search for a picnic table. We had already commented that there were very few people around. This was not a surprise because October is well past the prime tourist season. Getting a table in a prime spot sounded simple. The first site we came to had a beautiful view of the lake and three empty tables. We pulled to the entrance only to find that it was gated and sported a sign announcing that this area was closed. This was disappointing, but there were many more good sites up ahead. As we neared each one, we saw the announcement - "This area closed." We finally reached the northern end of the lake and the end of the picnic areas -- no luck. We knew it was late in the season, but we didn't realize everything would be closed. There we were -- at the end of the road with our bucket of cooling chicken and no picnic table.


Fortunately, Greg had brought the bike since we knew there were bike trails all around the lake. We dropped him off and told him we would meet him back at the dam. He took his time and had a blast on the trails that zigzagged along the lake road. When he caught up with us at the dam, he came to the car and asked if I would let him ride back across the dam. I said "sure!" and he and Mom both looked at me and said "Really?" Hey, I'm not that strict and he is an adult. He took off and I told Mom that I hoped he wasn't a little nervous and counting on me to tell him "no." We followed behind to be sure he didn't fall off. I don't know what we would have done if he had -- neither one of us was going to dive in and save him. Anyway, it was all worth a cold bucket of chicken.

Notice the single aspen on the island


You can see that the lake level is very low this year because of low rainfall. The mountains back behind it are beautiful, though.

As most of you know, Mom has been through a knee replacement and a broken ankle in the last year, so this has been a difficult way to take a vacation. Just getting in and out of the car is quite a production but Greg has it down to an art. We park and he hops out, runs to the back, pulls out her crutches, and then comes around to the side to help ease her out of the back seat. (She has to ride with one knee elevated so she can't sit in front.) There is a comfortable arm chair in our room but we have learned how to shore it up with some pillows to keep her knee in the proper alignment. We don't want this attempt at a vacation to set her progress back any. It's a shame that her real participation has to be so limited, but she is enjoying a change of scenery as we drive.

Sleeping is also an issue. We have devised a system of pillows to keep her knee in the right position at the right elevation. The bedding here is very thick and heavy and the weight of it on the knee is painful so we stood an empty suitcase on the bed under the covers to raise them off of the knee. Monday night, she climbed into bed (the word climbed is not an exaggeration - these beds must be three feet off the ground), arranged her pillows behind her and under the knee, positioned the suitcase, and pulled the covers up. I made a comment about something on television, so she tried to see what I was talking about. The bedding was in the way so she tried to beat it down a bit with her hand. That didn't help so I offered to climb out of my bed and help her out, but she said "No no! I can do it myself!" She then grabbed one of her crutches and whacked herself in the foot. Mom, aim for the covers, not your feet. (And we wonder why she isn't getting any better)